How Hard Can It Be?

I’ve blogged about my hair before, probably more than anyone even finds interesting, yet here I am blogging again about my hair. Not my hair so much as my prowess as a hairdresser. My own hairdresser. Let’s just say, I should not switch careers.

I’ve mentioned before that I lost all my hair in 2018 as a result of chemotherapy. When it started growing back it, I was not only relieved, but overjoyed. You see, there are always those days when you feel particularly low and you wonder if you hair WILL grow back. Which in turn makes you feel worse. But, I digress. My hair did grow back. Yay!

My hair grew back pure white and curly. Really curly. I didn’t complain. I was thankful to have hair. Eventually it darkened to a silvery gray and some of it even darkened to its original color, a sort of brown, black. I was hoping perhaps the silver would darken as well, but nope, that’s apparently here to stay. Oh well. As I said, I’m thankful to have hair.

Photo by P. Rickrode (2018)

As it continued to grow, it got REALLY pretty with shiny silvery waves. I got lots of compliments on my hair from complete strangers. Maybe losing my hair wasn’t such a bad thing after all. No one ever commented on hair before cancer. So, I just left it alone and let it do its thing.

Photo by P. Rickrode (2019)

Folks, let me tell you, it hasn’t been a full 4 years yet since my hair started growing back in and it’s down past my waist. Most of the curl is gone and the ends started looking ratty and tired. I originally vowed not to cut or color my hair until I’d reached the 5-year cancer-free mark. My hair became sort of symbolic. But as it got longer, it became harder to work with and lost its original glamour.

I trimmed the ends a few times but about a month ago I decided I really needed to chop off about 6 inches or so. I sat in the stylist’s chair, closed my eyes and let her make the cut. It was a little sad to see the last of my cancer curls fall to the floor, but my hair looked so much better in the long run. The ends were healthy again.

“Why didn’t you just cut it short?” my husband inquired.

“Well, I’m not quite ready yet. I haven’t reached the 5-year mark yet.”

No, nothing magical is going to happen in five years, but medical professionals all concur that if you make it to five years without a relapse, you’re in the top percentile of people who never have to deal with cancer again. Of course, we’re talking cancer, so that’s not to say it won’t come back somewhere else, but I’m headed into my fifth year. So, the hair stays. It’s my talisman for good luck.

(Not my hair but how my hair looks today.)

Meanwhile, I have really long hair to deal with every day and I’m kind of getting tired of the ponytails and messy buns. So, I spent some time on Pinterest and YouTube and found some “easy” updo videos for cute and “fast” hairstyles.

“How hard can that be?” I asked myself. Trust me on this, it ain’t like the videos. Ever. I’ve been trying hairstyles for days now and only succeeded in inventing several new curse words. I have the fancy combs and clips and pins and elastic ties but my finished product NEVER looks like the model in the video. I know how to braid and twist but when I do all that, it looks like a kindergartener did it. The girls in the videos just get it perfect in 3 minutes flat. It takes me 20 minutes and 15 tries. I have created some fantastic snarls though. Here’s a slideshow of how my styles end up looking. (These are not actual photos of me.)

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It’s frustrating. Some days it’s fun to try, but some days I stare in the mirror and wonder how I screwed up so badly. I have managed to “master” about 3 that look cute and almost like the video.

Do you gals like to work with your own hair? Do you guys notice when a lady has her hair fixed up nice? Do you have any suggestions for easy hair updos? Do you think I should keep my hair long, or cut it short?

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Word of the Day: Ahemeral

Fun fact about me: I learned how to French braid my own hair. That one I can do.

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, February 2022. Images by P. Rickrode, Google & YouTube.